The White House App Is Riddled With Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
The White House App Is Riddled With Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities
https://www.notus.org/technology/trump-white-house-app-cybersecurity
Publish Date: 2026-04-03 14:16:00
Source Domain: www.notus.org
Cybersecurity researchers warn that the White House’s new app regularly shares users’ IP addresses, time zones and other data to third-party services. But most of its users wouldn’t know that, because the app doesn’t disclose its data sharing the way most others do.
The cybersecurity experts’ reviews of the app code turned up a host of issues that they say make data — for both users and some White House staffers — vulnerable. Several told NOTUS they were shocked by the slipshod approach to cybersecurity by the federal government, especially while the U.S. is engaged in war.
“The U.S. government’s infrastructure is being attacked from all sides right now, and having an amateur WordPress developer running the White House’s public presence puts everybody who visits it at risk,” Philip Fields, a cybersecurity researcher and former FBI intelligence analyst, told NOTUS. “If this were just some random app out on the App Store representing whatever small business … this would not be a story.”
“But it’s not,” Fields said. “This is the White House.”
The app ranks as the third-most downloaded news app in the Apple App Store as of Friday. The White House released the app last week, and Trump on Monday promoted it as a source for “front-row access to all news from your favorite president.” He encouraged all of his fans to download it.
A White House press release announcing the app’s launch said that it “delivers unparalleled access to the Trump administration.”
A researcher shared screenshots with NOTUS showing that Elfsight — a third-party, Russia-founded software kit company that provides premade widgets for the app — makes public the personal information of some White House staffers through the app, as of Thursday. NOTUS is not publishing further details to protect the staffers’ privacy, but it was visible…
